Georgia Rental Application

What type of information should landlords collect?

To identify ideal tenants, landlords should gather essential information from applicants to help guide their selection process. As such, Georgia rental applications typically ask for the following details regarding interested parties:

• Personal information: Full name of the applicant, co-applicants, or co-signers, along with contact details, date of birth, Social Security Number, and emergency contacts
• Financial information: Income sources, employment status, rental payment history, and creditworthiness
• Landlord and employer references: Verification of current employment and rental history with previous landlords
• Rental history: Where the applicant currently lives and where they’ve lived in the past few years
• Animals: Information on whether the applicant has pets, including the number, breed, size, age, and whether they qualify as emotional support animals or service animals
• Smoking status: Whether the applicant smokes and if they plan to smoke on the property
• Vehicle information: Details such as make, model, year, and license plate number of the applicant’s vehicle(s)

Because the information landlords request within rental applications is sensitive, both federal and state laws regulate what landlords can request and how they can use it to select tenants.

To help Georgia landlords like you, TurboTenant allows users to send and receive unlimited state-specific rental applications (fact-checked by our lawyers) with every free account.

Pre-Screener

While Georgia landlord-tenant law doesn’t require pre-screening, it’s an efficient first step that helps landlords whittle down the pool of potential tenants.

By letting interested parties fill out a pre-screener, landlords can gain a quick glimpse at basic details like income, employment, pets, number of occupants, and more.

By collecting these details, pre-screener forms make it easy to filter out poor fits before ever sending out an official rental application.

Federal Application Laws

Federal regulations govern Georgia rental applications, and landlords must follow their rules when reviewing applicants and running background checks. Staying compliant with the following laws will up your chances of avoiding legal issues and executing a fair screening process.

Fair Housing Act (FHA) 

Under the Fair Housing Act, landlords cannot discriminate against applicants based on the following protected characteristics:

• Race
• Color
• National origin
• Religion
• Sex
• Disability
• Familial status

Asking questions that could reveal protected information, like “What country were you born in?” is illegal through and through.

The FHA applies to landlords, property owners, property managers, employees, and anyone involved in marketing rentals or selecting tenants.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits discrimination in transactions (including rental applications) that involve credit checks or payment arrangements.

Much like the Fair Housing Act, the ECOA prohibits landlords from accepting or denying applicants based on the following factors:

• Race
• Color
• Religion
• National origin
• Sex
• Marital status
• Age (if the applicant is legally able to enter a contract)
• Receipt of public assistance income
• Whether the applicant has exercised rights under the Consumer Credit Protection Act

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits landlords from discriminating against applicants with disabilities. It also requires landlords to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled tenants, like allowing a live-in caretaker or permitting a service animal in a no-pet property.

To reduce the risk of discrimination claims, landlords should avoid questions in rental applications that attempt to reveal a candidate’s disability. For example, asking “Do you have a mental health condition?” could land you in hot water with the feds.

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

The Fair Credit Reporting Act sets rules for how landlords use credit and background reports when reviewing rental applications.

For starters, landlords must get written consent from applicants before pulling these reports. Further, if a landlord denies an applicant based on the findings within either report, they must issue them an adverse action notice with the name and contact details of the reporting agency.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gives all U.S. citizens the same rights to own, lease, and use property, regardless of race or color. This federal law aims to eradicate racial discrimination in all property transactions, including rentals.

Georgia Application Laws

In addition to federal regulations, Georgia state laws also dictate what information landlords can request on a rental application and whether they can legally deny an applicant based on that information.

The Georgia Fair Housing Law, outlined in O.C.G.A. (specifically § 8-3-200 through § 8-3-223), more or less mirrors the federal Fair Housing Act and aims to protect tenants from discrimination during the application process.

However, unlike some states that offer additional protections beyond the federal legislation listed above, Georgia’s law covers only the same protected classes and doesn’t include any additional categories for rental applicants or tenants.

Source of income: Georgia law does not prevent landlords from discriminating based on an applicant’s source of income. Atlanta, however, passed legislation in 2020 that prohibits landlords from rejecting applicants solely based on their source of income, including those using federal housing vouchers to pay rent (Ordinance 20-O-1155).

Criminal history: Landlords in Georgia are legally allowed to review an applicant’s criminal history as part of the rental application process. With that in mind, the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits blanket banning applicants with criminal histories, meaning landlords must consider the context of a conviction before deciding for or against an applicant.

Eviction history: Landlords in Georgia may consider an applicant’s past eviction history when selecting a tenant.

Sexual orientation & gender identity: Georgia law does not protect tenants from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, though the federal Fair Housing Act prohibits sex discrimination, which includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

Pets, ESAs, and Service Animals

In Georgia, landlords may prohibit pets in their rental units.

However, the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) does not consider emotional support animals (ESAs) as pets, meaning they are exempt from pet restrictions. Landlords must also make reasonable accommodations for disabled tenants with assistance animals.

Additionally, landlords cannot charge pet fees, pet rent, or pet deposits for ESAs or service animals, though tenants are still responsible for any damage caused by their animals.

Pet information: During the application process, landlords should ask whether applicants have pets, emotional support animals (ESAs), or service animals. If pets are allowed, they should include a section for details like number, type, breed, size, and age.

Fair Housing Act: As mentioned earlier, federal fair housing laws protect applicants with emotional support animals or service animals. Landlords cannot charge pet-related fees or deny housing based on the animal’s breed, size, or weight, even if the animal doesn’t meet their rental unit’s pet regulations.

Denial Process

If a landlord decides not to approve a tenant, they must handle the denial lawfully and apply the same screening standards to all applicants. Valid reasons for rejection in Georgia include low income, bad credit, prior evictions, criminal history, or false or incomplete application details.

Denial notice: Georgia law does not require landlords to inform rental applicants of a rejection, nor do they need to explain why they denied the applicant.

Credit/background denials: Under the FCRA, if a landlord denies a rental application based on credit history, they must provide a written notice explaining that they made the decision because of information found in the applicant’s credit report.

This notice must include:

• The name of the organization that conducted the credit and background check
• A statement informing the applicant of their right to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information
• The contact information of the reporting agency that provided the report

Document storage: Georgia law does not require landlords to keep records related to application denials, but doing so is standard practice in the industry. Keeping these documents can help defend landlords against potential discrimination claims from applicants and provide a transparent record of the screening process.